Four Decades of The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon. The fist time I saw the Who in concert was August 27 1967 at Music Hall, a venue in Cincinnati, Ohio that is well known worldwide as the home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. It seats approx. 3500 and is acoustically superior to most any place in the world. The lineup for that show was strange. The opening act was another British band called Herman's Hermits and if you know their music you'll totally understand me when I say WTF? The second act was psych. band The Blues Magoos, a real good band that made a bit more sense being on the same bill as The Who. Really it didn't matter, most everyone was there to see the Who. I don't remember how long they played but it was one of the most kick ass shows you could ever imagine. They ended, as they did back then, with My Generation and for all of you that know, at the end of that song all hell breaks loose and they destroy all the equipment. It was amazing to see that live and the one thing that I really loved is seeing Keith Moon pull back both feet and just kick both bass drums right off the stage. I've found a video of the song from back then, It'll give you the idea but you really had to be there. The second time I saw them was also in Cincinnati at the Riverfront Coliseum on Dec.3 1979 and while that too (as were all Who shows) was a great one it was overshadowed by what turned out to be a night that would never be forgotten worldwide. It was the night that 11 of my brothers and sisters were trampled to death. You may know the story, while everyone waited outside for the doors to open the crowd pushed toward the doors in an effort to be among the first to get through the door because it was festival seating (meaning first come-best seats). You can go to Wiki and read how the fact that it was festival seating is blamed for the deaths but I was there and I'm telling you that only two doors were opened and the band was doing a sound check leading us all to believe the show was starting soon. Everyone surged forward and it was crazy. After being shoved I finally got to the door, where I tried to tell the security guard (well it was more like I yelled at him) that this was crazy and they needed to open more doors. He payed no attention so I finally got in and enjoyed the show and while leaving I saw a lot going on outside but had no idea what had happened until I got back to my van and turned on the radio. The news was stunning and all I could think at that time was did I trample anyone because if you had there was no way to have known. I immediately drove home where my family was in a frenzy knowing I was there. Like the fine city of Cincinnati is the blame was laid on the festival seating, which was banned until finally sometime in the 80's Bruce Springsteen had the first show where it was allowed. Now they open the doors 2 hours before the shows, good thinkin', just too late! The third time was July 19 1989 at the old home of the Cleveland Browns, Municipal Stadium. I took my business partner, Daren who'd not had the pleasure of enjoying The Who live. Road trip, big fun. The final time I saw them was Nov.4 1996 at a venue called The Nutter Center, in Dayton Ohio on the campus of Wright State. This one was with my good friend John who I've been to many concerts with over the 40+ years we've been friends. After all those years they still kicked ass doing the Quadraphenia album with Billy Idol and Gary Glitter appearing in a couple of tunes (Billy playing the roll of the "Bellboy"). Four decades of the Who, the only other bands I saw in four decades were The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd and really the last Floyd show was actually a Roger Waters show but to me that counts. Thanks for reading this, I hope you enjoyed a part of my music life, I sure did! (and still do:-D Peace!! Tom